THOMAS TUCHEL claims he is not feeling the heat as England boss — despite failing to fire up the nation’s World Cup hopes since taking over.
The German slammed his players’ poor attitude and body language after they limped to a 1-0 win away against Andorra.
England scraped past Andorra 1-0 in World Cup qualifying[/caption]
Their World Cup qualifier in Barcelona followed uninspiring performances in Tuchel’s first two games against Albania and Latvia in March.
And despite his Three Lions boasting maximum points from three qualifiers, the team have shown little sign of being in any shape to win the trophy.
But ahead of tomorrow night’s friendly against Senegal in Nottingham, Tuchel said: “I always feel pressure as I am not happy with myself.
“The biggest pressure comes from myself. We have three wins and three clean sheets and have a friendly match on Tuesday. I have felt more pressure than that.”
Tuchel pulled no punches after Saturday’s win.
Asked if it was a risk attacking his stars so early in his reign, he said: “What risk? You were in the stadium. What should I tell you?
“That we played a good match and are happy. The risk is only that you exaggerate it and make something of it that was not there.
“Everything I said, I said already to the team. There is no harm done.
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“We were not happy and no single player will be happy with what we showed against Andorra.
“Why would the coach be? And why would we be shy of saying so? If we want to get better, we first need to address that we were not happy with the end of both halves.
“I didn’t name a single name. We do this as a team. It’s always a ‘we’ — and I just didn’t like how we ended the match and the way that we ended the first half.
“I didn’t like the attitude or the energy level and how that dropped. I liked the beginning of the team.
“It always includes me. Everything I say, I tell the players.
“I didn’t like the attitude in the end. We lacked the urgency at the end.
“We played with fire. We didn’t play like we have to play in a World Cup qualifier when we were only 1-0 up.
“What did I do wrong? Yes, I am included. But I don’t know. We still won a match. We still won a World Cup qualifier and I am the first one to ask if we could do better.”
Senegal will provide Tuchel’s team with much stronger opposition compared to his first three matches.
The ex-Chelsea and Bayern Munich chief said: “It would have been a good test anyway. No matter how well or not well we played against Andorra.
“We don’t have lots of matches. We worship every training and match.”
Tuchel is set to ring the changes at a sold-out City Ground, with Conor Gallagher, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Declan Rice likely to feature.
Harry Kane grabbed the only goal in Barcelona[/caption]
England were back in training at St George’s Park on Sunday[/caption]
